Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Principles of forensic medicine / by William A. Guy and David Ferrier. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![chest, and elsewhere may follow scrofulous abscesses. Scrofula, smal -pox, syphilis, and lupus, in common with injuries by gun- shot, burns, knd escharotics, may leave behind them scars of every size and form. ,, , • Changes in colour of scars.—All scars, without exception, pass through two distinct stages-that of inflammatory redness (the immediate consequence of the injury sustained) and that ot brown discoloration. lu phlegmonous erysipelas and alter the application of blisters, mustard poultices, and other strong irri- tants, the skin, which was red during the inflammatory stage, assumes a dark brown or coppery hue. This it retains for months, and even for three or four years. At length, aud by degrees, the skin resumes its healthy colour. But sometimes, when the in- flammation runs high, the brown discoloration is followed by a third stage, or that of bleaching. Thus we have seen, after the lapse of two years and a half, the spot to which a large bhster had been applied defined by a white margin, and white decoloration occupying the whole surface on a level with the surrounding healthy skin (G.). Such surface scars follow the less severe forms of herpes, boils that heal after slight destruction of texture, and even incised wounds aud lancet cuts, where the edges have not been brought together, and some slight sujDerficial ulceration has taken place. In those cases in which the inflammation, however produced, is followed by ulceration, and consequent destruction of tissue, and still more where gangrene sets in, the scars are wholly or in part sunk beneath the surface. In these cases, too, the scar ]3asses through the three stages of inflammatory redness, brown discoloration, and bleaching. Healing of scars.—This is influenced by many causes, such as age, constitution, and state of health, the situation of the scar on flat, rounded, or hollow surfaces, on parts subject or not subject to motion, and in the direction of muscles or across them. Distinctness of scars.—This will depend on the complexion, and the tint of parts adjacent. Thus scars are ]es8_ apparent in persons of fair complexion, when the skin approaches in tint to the whiteness of the scar itself, and more distinct over a blue vein or discoloured portion of skin. Age of scars.—As has been stated, all scars, whether arising from injury or disease, are first red, then brown, then white and glistening. The redness, as a rule, lasts two, three, or four weeks, during the i^eriod of healing ; the brown discoloration for several months, or even for a few years ; the bleached appearance for the rest of life. But the duration of each stage is subject to great variation, as is seen in some cases of small-pox, where the scars are white and shining at the end of six months, while in others they remain brown even after two or three years. Scrofulous iilcers, too, sometimes leave coloured scars for the whole of life. A scar, then, that retains its inflammatory redness cannot be of long standing; one that has a brown or coppery colour may have existed for months or years ; a white glistening scar, quite free](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21965183_0031.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
